Your Guide On How To Sell My Car Online

After years of miles with a car that was once your pride and joy, it is time to put your vehicle up-for-sale. When it comes to selling your car by yourself, it may be a challenging task, but when you consider these easy to follow steps, you are offered with the possibility of gaining the most cash from the sale and a way to avoid pitfalls involved in the DIY sales.

1. Arrange The Correct Documentation

To begin with you will want to collect the documentation that will prove that you are the owner of the vehicle. This will include your original bill-of-sale and the vehicle title. Ensure that you also make a copy of the latest registered record an any of the VIN verification you may have conducted on your vehicle.

If you have the car’s Monroney which is the original window sticker that came from the first sale, this is important documentation to add to your pile. The Monroney will assist you in coming up with accurate features that the car comes equipped with.

The next step involves building up the service-history. If you have not retained all the service receipts, yet you have had all your services done at a single location such as the same mechanic or at a dealership, ask if the service provider if they can provide you with print outs on the service history. You may also want to obtain a copy about the history of the vehicle from one of the services such as AutoCheck or Carfax.

States which require an inspection of the vehicle before registration, means it is helpful that you have these inspection records to show potential buyers. If you don’t have this type of documentation you may want to schedule an inspection as having these records could speed up the sale.

2. Spruce Up Your Vehicle

When you have finalized the documentation, the next step involves conducting your own inspections as well as replacing anything that is cheap or easy to fix which could add value to the car. Some of these tasks may include making sure the taillights and headlamps work, this includes the brake lights and bright lights. Also make sure that the rearview-mirror is securely intact. You may also want to spot-fix scratches and chips and work-out minor dents.

Regardless of whether you decide to do-it-yourself or you choose a full-treatment at a reputable car-wash, you will want the vehicle to be spotless. If you have stains inside the car try to spot treat these stains to remove as much as you can. You may want to inv

est in compressed air in a can to remove any build-up of debris in crevices, that the car wash may have missed.

3. Take Photographs Of The Car

To capture the very best images of your car from each angle, conduct a photo-shoot at the time of day when the rays of the sun are not shining from directly above. It is best to take shots in the early morning or late afternoon, it will assist in avoiding chrome and window glare in the photos.

Make sure you take photos of the most important features about the car, this will include the odometer. You should also take photographs that will identify all the flaws of the vehicle such as holes or tears in the seating material, scratches or dents in the paint work or stains. If potential buyers would like to know about how severe the flaws are, you can send them the photos you have taken.

4. Determining The Value Of The Car

When you want to close a cash sale on your vehicle, you will want to ensure you are offered the highest price possible from the buyer. In order to find out the value of the car you can use a number of online sources to determine the value or use one of the used-car pricing tools. These sites offer you a way to enter the model and make of your car to find out what other sellers are advertising their cars for. The prices generally vary according to the area in the country, for this reason look for the listings in your area.

5. Listing Your Car

Today there are websites which offer a number of approaches to assist you in selling a used car. Do Your own research on these sites to ensure you choose the one that matches up to what you need. Below are a few details on a few of the popular and commonly used listing sites:

Junk Car Systems

Here you get to sell your vehicle through the Junk Car Systems call center if your in LA or you can a free quote online. All you need to do is upload information that buyers would like to see, you will receive an offer from one of the TrueCar Certified Dealers.

Craigslist

This is a website that provides free classified listings of car’s along with the opportunity to display your car in various photographs.

Autotrader

This site offers you with a way to upload as much as 27 photographs, along with the help of a pricing-tool which will help you to decide on the asking price. This site also provides a visitor-counter which means you are able to view how many visitors have seen your listing. The price of the listings begins at $25.

AutoBlog

With the use of an AOL account you are able to login in order to create you own classified listing for free, where you can upload as many as 12 photos. You may also use this site to compare the listing of the trucks and cars which are the same model or make of your vehicle.

Once you have successfully listed your car, all you have to do is wait for your phone to ring. Most of the sites suggest that you should start to receive offers or inquiries within 1 to 2 days, but it is not unusual to start receiving inquiries a few hours after you have listed the vehicle.

6. Meeting The Buyer

There are a host of pitfalls involved when it comes to selling a car online, but the majority are easy to avoid when you are aware, and you use common sense. For example, if you have received an offer from someone who wants to see the car in person, rather arrange to meet in public spaces, such as a fire or police department or a parking lot.

Even when you have finalized the price and you are about to formally hand over your car, avoid canceling the online listings. There is the likelihood that the buyer will turn down the sale when you least expect it. Only cancel all your listings once the buyer has paid you and you have formally handed over the keys and title of the car.

7. The Payment

Take caution when it comes to how the buyer has offered to pay for the car. Experts suggest caution when it comes to different forms of transactions and warn sellers that they should avoid payments from a person they have never met before or accept cashier’s checks or wire funds.

Once you are in agreement of the price and have reached the stage of exchanging a payment for your car, its always a better idea that you have a 3rd-party present and to make the exchange in an area that is public. Most police departments are open to letting sellers use their parking spaces to conduct a safe sale and may even arrange for one of their officers to be present to witness your sale for both seller and buyer protection.